The European Union, through the EUROsociAL+ Programme, has been supporting the process of creating the CCES that took place this Wednesday thanks to the approval of an Executive Decree signed by the President of Costa Rica. EUROsociAL’s support has contributed to the drafting of the Decree based on the experience of the Economic and Social Councils of European countries.
Acto Solemne de establecimiento CCES, Teatro Nacional de Costa Rica. Fotografía: Julieth Méndez
A formal act on 16 December, attended by the President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado, saw the creation of this body, which has been designed as a multisectoral space to strengthen dialogue and social consensus on the country’s socioeconomic policies.
In the words of the President, the creation of the Council represents an important milestone in the development of Costa Rica, since it has the capacity and the objective of creating consensus around the country’s vision of development and of helping to regain confidence. The president stressed that “the creation of this Council needs to lead to good results for the development of the country. This is an important milestone, but it also means that the work is just beginning. It is a legacy that should not only be for the current administration, but the ambition and desire is that it be projected into the future, as economic councils have done in countries such as Spain, France, Ireland and the Netherlands, among others”
The European Union, through the EUROsociAL+ Programme, has been supporting the process of creating the CCES that finally crystallised this Wednesday with the passing of an Executive Decree signed by the President of Costa Rica. EUROsociAL’s support contributed to the drafting of the Decree based on the experience of Economic and Social Councils of European countries, guiding, supporting and inspiring the creation of the CCES in the country.
The event was attended, in addition to the Head of Cooperation of the European Union Delegation in San José, Alberto Menghini, by the Economic and Social Council of Spain with greetings from its President Pedro Fernández Alén and that of Italy – the Consiglio Nazionale dell’Economia e del Lavoro – with its President, Tiziano Treu, who gave a talk on the ESCs and the importance of social dialogue for governance and democratic life.
Representatives of the different sectors that make up the Council also participated, as well as the Ministers of Labour, Geannina Dinarte; of Planning and Economic Policy, Pilar Garrido; of the Condition of Women, Patricia Mora, and the heads of Human Development and Social Inclusion, Juan Luis Bermúdez; Liaison with the Private Sector, André Garnier, and Sports, Hernán Solano.
The creation of the Council of Costa Rica occurs in the context of the serious economic and social crisis that the country is experiencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic has hit the country when it was already dragging a significant fiscal deficit and, in the face of fear of an increase in the deficit and an increase in the tax burden of citizens from the negotiations for a loan from the IMF, a social outbreak has been spreading throughout the country. The trade union movement and the business sector also participated in the protests. In response to social discontent, President Carlos Alvarado announced the withdrawal of the initiative with the IMF and called for a national dialogue with various sectors to seek solutions to economic problems.
The creation of the CCES responds to an agreement approved on 18 November by the plenary session of the Multisectoral Dialogue that requested the Executive Power to have a multisectoral body for dialogue and generation of agreements, in which the different sectors of society were represented, with the in order to address the challenges of the country’s development, including the issues that have remained pending in the multisectoral dialogue. Organisations of people from the productive, labour, social and academic sectors (business, labour-union, agricultural and fishing, social solidarity economy, local territorial development, academia and civil society) participate in the CCES, in accordance with the economic, social and cultural diversity of Costa Rican society. Its objectives are to act as a consultative body of the Executive Power on actions, programmes and public policies, within the framework of its competences, and to serve as a space for dialogue, discourse and generation of agreements between different sectors of society on the issues of its interest.
Press release from the Presidency of the Republic of Costa Rica.
